


Fated: Season 2

by ddixons_angel



Series: Fated [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Implied Sexual Content, The Walking Dead spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25424992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddixons_angel/pseuds/ddixons_angel
Summary: Gloria Rhee and her group find a family farm after running into a herd on a highway.Follows the main storyline of Season 2 of The Walking Dead.**This is Part 2 of my Fated Series, please read the previous parts if you haven't already! ^^
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Fated [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828717
Comments: 14
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!
> 
> I already have a large portion of this series posted on Tumblr and decided to post it here as well! I'll be posting a chapter every day until I'm caught up with what I have on Tumblr! Any comments are always appreciated!

After narrowly escaping the C.D.C., the group had turned in to an abandoned campsite to rest and discuss what to do and where to go. Apparently, Jacqui had decided to stay at the CDC with Dr. Jenner. She didn’t see a point to go on with the way world was now. 

Without any other choices, they set on Fort Benning that Shane had originally suggested. To make the long trip slightly easier, the group decides to abandon some of their cars, siphoning gas from the ones they’d leave behind and take the rest on the road. Rick drove his family, Sophia, and Carol in her Cherokee, Daryl was on Merle’s motorcycle, and Dale drove the rest of the group in his RV. Glenn was sitting in the passenger seat, studying a map, Shane and Andrea were at the table cleaning their guns, and Gloria just kept her eyes on the road, behind Dale. 

“Woah…” Dale whispered to no one in particular.

They had slowed down as they came across abandoned cars and dead bodies all littering the road. Gloria watches warily as Daryl weaves through the cars, guiding the path for the others to come through. A look of nervousness and worry is plastered on Gloria’s face.

Glenn glances at her and notices her expression then back at the road at Daryl, “ _is there something going on between you two?_ ” he asks in Korean to keep from exposing her.

Gloria looks at him for a second, she feels blush creeping up her cheeks then shakes her head, “ _what? No, just watching him, putting myself in his position… anyone would get nervous._ ”

He nods in agreement and doesn’t pester her about Daryl. He isn’t able to anyway as the RV comes to a complete stop, causing Dale to groan in frustration.

“What is it?” Shane says as he notices the stop, coming up to the front of the RV.

“Radiator hose again… dammit.” Dale sighs and hits the wheel. 

Sighing, Shane gets out of the RV to find Rick to discuss their next steps. Everyone else gets out of their respective vehicles, and they decide to try to scavenge supplies from the cars along the road, maybe even hoping to find yet another replacement radiator hose. As they start to look around, scavenging for anything useful, Gloria goes around to everyone and hands them all a granola bar and water, knowing they’re most likely all thirsty and hungry from their long journey.

“Ya really can’t stop bein’ a nurse, can ya?” Daryl smirks as he takes the snack from her.

Gloria shrugs, “I just do what needs to be done.” She makes her way towards Carol’s Cherokee and calls out to Sophia and Carl who are with their mothers, “you guys can’t tell anyone that I saved these flavors for you, okay?” 

She pulls out two chocolate chip flavored bars and hands them to the kids, making them squeal in delight. Carol and Lori grin at this then Carol puts her hands on her hips and gasps, pretending to be upset.

“And you didn’t save one of those for me?!” Carol says, giving Gloria her best pout.

Gloria chuckles and looks in her bag, “well, okay I do have one more, but I don’t know if you’ll have to fight Lori for it.” she grins, holding out the last chocolate chip bar.

Lori playfully eyes Carol and laughs, “I’ll give you this one.” 

Carol grins cutely as Gloria gives her the granola bar, then hands Lori a different flavored one. Opening one herself and placing it in her mouth and holding it with her lips, she zips up her bag and puts it on her back once more. She takes a bite as Lori wipes some crumbs off Carl’s face. 

“Gloria, can you look after Carl and Sophia while we go look in some cars, there has to be something useful in this graveyard.” Lori asks, looking ahead as the men are searching. 

She nods, “of course, I’ll holler at you if anything.” 

Carol and Lori smile at her gratefully as they go off to look for supplies. Sophia jumps up and asks Gloria to play a game with them and the three end up playing several rounds of Eye Spy. In the middle of their game, Sophia looks over to the others and she frowns in confusion when she sees Shane and Glenn waving frantically to them. 

“What’s wrong, Sophia?” Gloria asks, noticing the change in the little girl’s expression, she turns around, following her line of vision, seeing Glenn tell her to get under the cars as there are walkers coming, “Carl, Sophia, get under the cars, now! Go, and keep quiet!” she whispers, ushering them to hide.

Sophia gets down and hides under her mother’s car with Gloria beside her. Carl had gone under the car beside them, looking at Gloria for reassurance and she holds her finger up to her lips, telling them to keep quiet. Sophia whimpers as the horde passes by their car and Gloria wraps her arm protectively around the young girl, whispering that everything’s going to be okay, attempting to calm her. The girl sobs quietly and then lets out a scream as a walker drops down to the ground, seeming to have heard Sophia’s whimpers, it grabs onto Gloria’s bag. Gloria instinctively turns around, struggling with the walker and eventually gets her dagger to stab the walker, earning herself a few scrapes from the gravel in the process. Once the walker is dead, she turns to look at Sophia but the girl had already crawled out from under the car. 

“Gloria, are you okay?” Sophia asks, sniffling from the close encounter. 

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” Gloria whispers back and starts to crawl out towards her. 

Right before she’s fully out, Sophia lets out another scream as two more walkers appear from behind the car, going straight for her. Not thinking, Sophia runs backwards towards the woods. 

“Sophia!” Gloria calls out as she chases after the girl, stabbing one of the walkers in the back of the skull and continues chasing. 

Sophia sobs and whimpers as she’s backed into a tree, the walker closes in towards her, snarling and reaching out for the girl. Gloria swears under her breath when she sees the scene and dashes towards them, pulling the walker back and stabbing it in the back of the head, killing it. She pushes the body to the ground and Sophia throws herself to Gloria, hugging her tightly while sobbing.

“Shh… it’s okay, I got you.” Gloria soothes, rubbing her back gently, she looks around her with a frown, “where are we?” she says to herself.

“Mommy… mommy’s gonna be worried.” Sophia sniffles as she lets go of Gloria and looks up at her. 

Gloria nods, “Yeah, let’s get you back to her, okay?” 

Sophia sniffles and nods, wiping her eyes of tears. Gloria holds her hand and starts to walk her back in the direction they came, but are stopped short when snarls and growls are all around them. There were at least eight walkers headed towards them in the way that they wanted to go. Gloria glances down at Sophia and then back at the walkers; she couldn’t fight all of them off and look after the girl at the same time, they had to go another way. 

“Hey, Sophia, listen to me, okay?” Gloria whispers, “we’re gonna have to go around this herd, get back on the road and find your mommy that way, okay? But we need to stay as quiet as possible, can you do that for me?”

Sophia, still scared, nods and places her finger on her lips. Gloria smiles softly at her and does the same gesture, then leads her to walk around the pack, quickly but silently. Needing to weave through more small packs of walkers, trying to avoid them, the two unknowingly walk even further into the woods. At this point, Gloria wishes she had Glenn’s sense of direction as she looks around, not even knowing where north is. Sophia tugs at Gloria’s hand gently, making her look to the young girl. 

“My feet hurt… and I’m tired and thirsty.” Sophia says quietly, her head low, knowing that she shouldn’t be complaining.

Gloria gently pushes Sophia to a thick tree and lets her sit down, kneeling beside her, “it’s okay, I’m tired too, we can rest here and keep going when we feel better, okay?” She smiles softly at her.

Sophia smiles back and nods. Gloria takes off her backpack, unzips it and pulls out a water bottle. She hands it to Sophia who thanks her as she takes it and opens the bottle. As Sophia drinks, Gloria takes out the last granola bar in her bag and gives it to Sophia. 

“Sorry it’s not chocolate, your mom took the last one.” Gloria chuckles, making Sophia giggle.

“But what about you?” Sophia asks. 

Gloria shakes her head, “I’m okay, don’t worry, you need to eat more to grow up strong like me.” she grins at her.

Sophia nods and takes the bar, “when I grow up, I want to be just like you!” she gleems. 

“Maybe not **just** like me… your mom has some really great cooking skills, you should learn to be like her.” Gloria says, stroking Sophia’s hair. 

Sophia ponders for a moment, “then I want to be just like you and mommy!” 

“We’ll teach you well.” Gloria chuckles.

She lets out a small sigh as she lets Sophia rest. The girl is in the middle of munching on her granola bar when she lets out a shriek.

“Gloria! Behind you!” 

As all her attention was on Sophia, Gloria had her back turned and didn’t see the walker that had snuck it’s way up right behind her. Gloria quickly turns around and pushes the walker away from her, only to have to come straight back towards her. She gets up, unable to pull out her dagger from its sheath, she grapples the walker, wrestling with it. Sophia gets up, watching helplessly. 

“Sophia, stay back!” Gloria shouts, hoping the girl will listen. 

She gets pushed back by the walker, knowing that she’s fighting a losing battle as the walker is quite large, she uses her leg and kicks the walker away from her. Snarling, the walker comes lunging back towards her but she had already gotten a dagger out. Gloria plunges the blade into the back of it’s skull and it falls in her direction. With the deadweight of the now limp walker on her, she stumbles and loses her footing. Gloria falls and slips down a steep hill, tumbling down with the walker. 

“Gloria!” Sophia screams out. 

On the bottom of the hill, Gloria groans as she feels a sharp pain in her right ankle. Her vision is foggy and filtered red with blood, wincing at the sting on her left temple. 

“Sophia…” she calls out in a breathless whisper before her vision becomes dark. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!
> 
> I already have a large portion of this series posted on Tumblr and decided to post it here as well! I'll be posting a chapter every day until I'm caught up with what I have on Tumblr! Any comments are always appreciated!

When Gloria finally comes to, she finds herself in an unfamiliar room in a bed with a throbbing dull pain on her ankle. She frowns at her surroundings but winces as her change in facial expression tugged at the clean bandage on her left temple. She lifts her hand to gently touch the bandage as she remembers the last thing that happened; she had fallen down a hill in the woods when she was with Sophia. 

“Sophia…” Gloria whispers to herself then attempts to get up but only hisses in pain as a now sharp pain shoots through her leg from her ankle. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” a new voice calls out to her. 

She looks up to the door and sees a young woman with a brown bob cut standing there, smiling softly at her. 

“Daddy said that you sprained your ankle pretty badly.” the woman tells her.

Gloria looks down at her ankle and grimaces, “Yeah… sure does look like it.” 

Her ankle was in really bad shape, swollen and purple. From the looks of it, she figured that as she tumbled down the hill, it twisted and took a few hits from a rock or something hard like that. 

“Well, since you’re awake, I’ll get my dad to check up on you.” with that, the woman left, leaving Gloria confused as to who these people were, and why were they helping her.

Shortly after the woman left, an older gentleman comes into the room, he smiles softly at her, “how are you feeling?”

“For starters, my head hurts and my foot hurts, I’m also very confused right now.” Gloria says truthfully. 

Her answer causes the man to chuckle, “Well, let me ask you this, do you remember your own name?” 

“Gloria.” she tells him, then a thought occurs to her, “I’m sorry if this comes off as rude, but… am I supposed to know who you are?”

“No, no,” he chuckles again, “you didn’t know me before your fall, so you don’t need to worry that you lost your memory.”

She nods and then she lets the man do some simple medical check procedures on her, he seemed to know what he was doing and he didn’t seem to have any bad intentions; he and his daughter saved her life for all she knew. The man shone a light into her eyes, checking that there was little to no damage to her brain from the fall, his smile was a good sign.

“Doesn’t seem to be any sign of a concussion, just a flesh wound as far as your head is concerned. As for your ankle, I suggest you keep off it for a while.” he informs. 

Gloria nods, “Hey, doc? How did you find me?”

“I didn’t, your friend did.” he answers.

She tilts her head at his response when she hears a door opening and closing quickly, then frantic footsteps coming towards the room. Glenn suddenly appears in the doorway and he lets out a huge sigh of relief when he sees Gloria sitting up on the bed.

“Oh my god!” on the verge of tears, Glenn rushes over to her, leaning down and hugging her tightly, “you’re okay, thank god you’re okay!” 

The older gentleman smiles as he gets up, “I’ll leave you two alone.” he excuses himself and leaves the room. 

Glenn pulls away from his sister and thanks him before he was able to leave, “Uh Glenn?”

“Yeah?” he responds, his full attention on her. 

“Who was that? Where are we? And why are we here?” Gloria questions. 

Glenn chuckles before answering, “That was Hershel, this is his farm. And we’re here because…” he sighs, “well, because Carl got shot.”

Gloria’s eyes widen, “What?! Carl got shot? What the hell happened?! Is he okay?!”

“Yeah, he’s fine now, Hershel patched him up, got the bullet fragments out in time, he’s just resting in the other room.” Glenn explains quickly, calming Gloria down.

“That’s good… Lori must have been freaking out.” Gloria comments. 

Glenn nods, “Yeah…” he looks at her, “what happened to you? Daryl said he found you knocked out behind some trees and a dead walker was right on top of you.”

“Daryl found me?” Gloria questions.

“Yeah, when he was looking for you and Sophia.” Glenn replies, waiting for her to tell him what went on in the woods. 

She sighs and explains that they got cut off by walkers when they were trying to find their way back to the road but got lost and attacked by some walkers and Gloria ended up falling down a hill. Her mind drifts back to Sophia and she frowns.

“Where’s Sophia, is she okay?” Gloria asked, if Daryl found her, he must have found Sophia… right?

Glenn’s sullen expression took away all the hope she had of the little girl being safe with her mother, “I’m sorry, Gloria. We haven’t found her yet.”

Gloria sighs, “then what the hell are we doing just sitting here, let’s go find her.” 

Once again, she attempts to get up from the bed but hisses in pain as she puts weight on her ankle, Glenn gently pushes her back, holding his hand out to stop her from going anywhere, “you’re not in any condition to go out there, plus, Daryl’s already out there looking for her.” 

“Just him? What about everyone else?” she says, frowning.

“Rick and Shane said that he’s our best shot, he’s our best tracker and he knows the woods better than anyone, if anyone is able to find her, it’s Daryl. You know that; he found you.” Glenn tells her, then puts his hand on her shoulder to keep her from getting up, “will you stop trying to get up? You need rest, Hershel said that you’re already lacking nutrients and you’re beginning to be malnourished, it’s only been two days since you got lost in the woods, I thought you had food in your bag, why didn’t you eat?”

“I did but I gave it all the Sophia, she needed it more than I did.” Gloria purses her lips, her eyes started to tear at the thought of the little girl, scared and alone in the woods.

The siblings hear shuffling and sobs from outside the room, both of them turn to see Carol walking into the room, towards Gloria, “Gloria… thank you… thank you for looking out for Sophia…” she pulls her into a hug.

“Carol…” Gloria can’t hold back her tears anymore, guilt eating up at her heart, “Carol, I’m so sorry, I couldn’t do anything more, I should have taken better care of her…”

Carol shushes her and wipes Gloria’s tears away, “it’s not your fault, I don’t blame you for anything, Gloria.” 

Gloria’s about to say something else until the sound of a gunshot interrupts her. Glenn jumps up at the noise, worried looks spread across all of their faces. Gloria quickly ushers Glenn and Carol to go out and see what had happened as she stays put in the bed, unable to move from the bed. She waits there anxiously and eventually sees Shane and Rick carrying someone into the room across from hers. Glenn walks back into the room, concern written all over his face as he sits back down beside her.

“Glenn, what happened…” Gloria already expects him to tell her bad news from the looks of his face.

Unable to look her straight in the eye, he speaks, “Daryl’s back but he’s hurt… Andrea shot him.” 

Gloria’s eyes widen in rage at the news, “She what? She **shot** him?! What the hell is wrong with her?! Why would she shoot him?!” 

“F-from a far he did look… somewhat like a walker…” Glenn shifts in his seat, he always hated it when Gloria yelled. It sometimes made them both wonder who the older one was. 

She rolls her eyes at the lame excuse, “she should have looked closer then.” she mutters under her breath.

Glenn finally looks at her and with a serious expression, he asks, “Hey, what’s going on between you and Daryl, really?” 

“What do you mean?” Gloria eyes him, cautiously.

“When you and Sophia went missing, he got really worked up about finding you two. Threw a fit when it looked like no one but me and him were willing to search for you.” Glenn explains. 

A small smile tugs at the corner of Gloria’s lips at Glenn’s words which she tries to hide, “he probably just wanted to get Sophia back to Carol, and make sure she’s safe. He knows I can hold my own, so he’s most likely just worried about Sophia.”

A knock on the door interrupts Glenn’s small interrogation, the young woman from earlier with the brown bob cut is standing in the doorway with a smile, holding a pair of crutches, “hey, I don’t think I introduced myself to you yet, I’m Maggie, Hershel’s daughter.” she says, walking into the room.

Gloria smiles back, “Gloria.” 

“I figured you didn’t want to stay in this room forever so I brought you these,” Maggie says, leaning the pair of crutches on the wall close to the bed, “they were Beth’s, my sister’s, when she broke her ankle.” 

“I appreciate it, Maggie, and I mean that. Everything your family’s done for us, thank you.” Gloria tells her, sincerity pouring out of her voice. 

Maggie smiles and nods at that, then she looks over at Glenn who hasn’t said a single word since she walked in. The two share a look and Maggie walks out of the room. The look is not missed by Gloria as she crosses her arms and examines Glenn’s face.

“So, what do you have to tell me?” now it’s her turn to interrogate.

Glenn’s never been good at keeping secrets, his expression would always give him away, he could never even bluff at poker. So when he started blushing, Gloria started to grin.

“N-nothing, what are you talking about?” he tries to chuckle but only ends up laughing nervously.

“I can read you like a book, Glenn. _Older brother, you’re in love._ ” Gloria says the last part in Korean. 

Glenn’s face turns beet red at that, “N-no I’m not!” he huffs, then tries to change the subject, “I’m gonna see if Lori and Carol need help with dinner, they’re using Hershel’s kitchen and cooking a feast for everyone.” 

He runs out of the room, Gloria laughs to herself at her brother’s rushed exit. Finally, one good thing is potentially happening in this new horrid world of theirs. Never being the type to be able to stay in one spot for long, Gloria starts getting restless and grabs the crutches Maggie had provided for her and tries them out, hobbling around in the room to get used to them before making her way out. She meets Hershel outside the door, just leaving the room she had seen Rick and Shane carrying Daryl to.

“See you’re getting used to those already.” he smiles to her. 

She smiles back and nods, “um, how is he?” she nods pointedly towards Daryl’s temporary room.

“Well, he’s doing pretty well for someone who got pierced by an arrow and grazed by a bullet, he’ll need rest though, if he keeps moving at the pace that he does, we’ll run out of antibiotics and stitches sooner than expected.” Hershel explains.

“Oh my god…” she lets out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding, “can I see him?”

Hershel nods and opens the door for her as she hobbles to the door, she thanks him as he closes the door behind her, assuming they’d want some privacy. Daryl turns at the sound of the door opening and closing, seeing who was coming to bother him.

“Shouldn’t ya be restin’?” Daryl asks once he sees that it’s her. 

Gloria chuckles as she sits down on a chair near the bed, leaning the crutches on the wall, “I just woke up an hour ago, I think I’m pretty well rested.” A moment of silence passes by them, “so, what exactly happened out there? Someone shot you with an arrow?”

“Nah, shot myself.” Daryl says nonchalantly causing Gloria to blink at him in confusion, “took one o’ Hershel’s dumb horses that threw me off, nearly killed me, shot myself when I landed in some creek, an’ to top it off, Andrea shoots me when I got back.”

“And all that happened because you went out looking for Sophia?” Gloria asks, sadness evident in her voice, he nods, “Glenn said you’re the one who found me, too.”

“Yeah, thought ya were dead, honestly… Yer head was bloody, damn walker lyin’ right on top o’ ya.” he tells you, scoffing at the memory as if to disguise the worry and fear he felt. 

Gloria looks down, “thank you…” thoughts and feelings of guilt plaguing her mind again; everything that’s happened, with Carl getting shot, and Daryl getting hurt, were all because she wasn’t able to keep Sophia safe. 

“Hey. Stop that.” Daryl snaps at her, as if reading her mind, “Sophia goin’ missin’ ain’t yer fault, don’ go off thinkin’ it is ‘cause it ain’t!” 

She looks up at him at his words, forcing a smile on her face and nods, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. A sudden knock on the door sounds and it opens slowly, Carol peeks her head in and greets them with a soft smile.

“I brought you some dinner, you two must be starving.” Carol says as she puts down a tray of food on the nightstand beside the bed. 

Gloria lets out a gasp of delight, “Oh god, I think the last thing I ate was a small granola bar and that was at least two days ago, thank you Carol!”

Carol chuckles at her reaction while Daryl smirks, then grunts a thank you to the older woman, “you two are the ones I should be thanking, you’ve done so much for me and Sophia.” 

“Carol, the only one you should be thanking is Daryl,” Gloria glances over at him then back to her, “he risked his life out there for her today.”

Carol smiles at her then looks over at Daryl, “you did more for today for my little girl than her daddy ever did.” 

“Didn’ do anythin’ Rick an’ Shane wouldn’ do.” Daryl shifts uncomfortably in the bed, not used to having this much gratitude directed towards him.

“Well, you’re every bit as good as them.” Gloria smiles at him.

Carol nods, “every bit.” 

Daryl’s silence gives Carol the cue to leave them to enjoy their supper. She smiles at Gloria and takes her leave silently, quietly closing the door behind her. Looking over to see that Carol had left, Daryl pulls up the sheets, cowering under them as if he’d just realized how revealed his body was. 

“Why are you hiding from me? I already saw everything that needs to be seen.” Gloria teases with a smirk, earning a glare from Daryl, she giggles at his reaction then remembers what Glenn had told her about him being so worked up about finding her and Sophia, “Daryl…”

His features soften when her expression turns serious, “yeah?”

“Thank you. For finding me, and saving me in the woods. I mean it.” 

“I’ll always be able to find ya.” Daryl mutters, looking away. 

Gloria smiles at that, seeing as she’s bothered him enough for the day, she gets up, hopping on her good leg, leans over to him and kisses him lightly on the forehead, “Goodnight, Daryl.” 

He watches as she takes her crutches, mounting them and leaves the room, closing the door behind her, his eyes lingering on her trail, a small shy smile playing on his lips. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!
> 
> I already have a large portion of this series posted on Tumblr and decided to post it here as well! I'll be posting a chapter every day until I'm caught up with what I have on Tumblr! Any comments are always appreciated!

Gloria glances around the room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with her hand as she had just woken up. She sits up and looks at the clock hanging on the wall telling her that it was already noon. She figured it must have been the large feast Lori and Carol had cooked for everyone that helped her sleep so well; that and the fact that she had a comfy bed to sleep in. 

“I should get up.” she says as she looks over to the crutches leaning on the wall next to the bed, but just before she reaches out to grab them, there’s a knock on the door.

“You’re awake.” Carol smiles at her as she walks in with a tray of orange juice, and a plate of eggs, ham, and toast. 

Gloria blushes and nods, “That I am.” 

“I brought you some breakfast… or would you consider this lunch?” Carol teases as she places the tray down on the chair right by the bed. 

“I just woke up, so that,” Gloria gestures to the tray, “is still breakfast for me.” 

Carol chuckles at this, “so, how are you feeling?”

“Well, I’m pretty well rested, so that’s a plus. Don’t think I can walk on my own two feet yet though, haven’t tried.” Gloria tugs at the sheets, revealing her ankle that’s still swollen and bruised, “yeah, doesn’t look like it.”

“Take it easy on yourself.” Carol tells her, patting her shoulder. 

Gloria looks up at her and smiles, “I will, don’t worry. And once I can walk properly, the first thing I’ll do is go out to find Sophia.” 

A soft but sad smile spreads on Carol’s lips, “thank you.” 

Gloria puts her hand on Carol’s and gives it a gentle, comforting squeeze. Carol nods to the food, telling Gloria to eat before leaving the room. Gloria sighs as she takes the tray from the chair and puts it in her lap, then starts digging in. A moment later, another knock is heard on the door and Gloria looks up to see Daryl walking in. 

“Hey, how ya feelin’?” he asks.

She swallows a bite before answering, “well, pretty popular to be honest, getting a lot of visits within the hour.” 

Daryl rolls his eyes and scoffs at her answer, “what about that?” he asks, gesturing to her ankle. 

Gloria glances at it then back at Daryl, “from the looks of it, not good. Haven’t tried walking on it yet, don’t think I’m about to try, either.” 

“Sprained?” his eyes never leaving her ankle. 

She nods, “yeah…”

Without saying anything else, Daryl sits down on the chair and gently takes her ankle, slowly moving it into his lap. He starts to gently massaging it, his touch light but still effective. Gloria blushes and smiles at the gesture, remembering that she had helped him the same way when he had a light sprain on his wrist. 

“How’s this?” he asks, his eyes avoiding hers.

“Feels nice.” Gloria says, taking a piece of bread from her plate and nibbling on it, “and how are you feeling?” she asks in regards to his own injuries, as he grunts in response Gloria rolls her eyes and mocks his grunt, making him look at her. 

“Ain’ dead yet, ain’ gon’ be bedridden neither.” he finally says. 

A pang of guilt hits Gloria as she looks away from him, “not like I want to be…” she says softly.

“Di’n’t mean that.” Daryl says quickly, “look, I ain’ good wit’ words, a’right? But that ain’ what I meant.”

Gloria sighs and nods, “Sorry… I guess I’m just moody today. I hate just sitting here, sleeping all day, not doing anything. Makes me feel completely useless when everyone’s outside, earning their place here, helping out one way or another.” 

“That don’ make ya useless.” he looks at her seriously, “ya jus’ bein’ here, findin’ ya gave all o’ us hope. Gave me hope.” 

She blinks at him, her heart fluttering at his words, she then smiles gratefully at him, “And you said you aren’t good with words.” 

Daryl blushes slightly, shifting in the chair and turning his attention back to her ankle, massaging away gently, “how’s it feel?”

She smiles, “a lot better,” Gloria purses her lips together before adding, “thanks to you.” she loved that she was able to make Daryl blush the way he did around her, grinning when she saw him blushing harder at her words.

Shouting from outside turned Gloria’s attention from Daryl as she turned to look out the window where she saw Maggie storming off, leaving behind Glenn with Lori. She furrowed her brows in confusion, wincing a bit from her skin tugging at her bandage. 

“Wha’s got ya frownin’ so much tha’ it hurts?” Daryl asks with a frown himself. 

Gloria turns back to him and shakes her head, chuckling, “Nothing, just Glenn, I think he’s having girl problems. Hey, can you get him in here for me? I wanna know what’s going on with him and Maggie.”

Daryl scoffs, giving a disapproving look, “a’right.” he carefully puts Gloria’s leg back on the bed before getting up, “ya girls are weird.” he mutters before walking off to fetch Glenn.

“It’s called caring!” Gloria calls out after him with a grin. 

She hears Daryl shouting for Glenn from outside the house and shortly after, her brother is walking into the room. She gestures for him to close the door, to which Glenn does so but now has a concerned look on his face.

“Everything okay?” Glenn asks as he sits on the chair.

Gloria shakes her head as she crosses her arms, leaning on the headboard, “Spill it, what’s up?”

“What do you mean?” Glenn says back defensively, shifting in the chair.

“Should I show you a mirror so you can see how it’s written all over your face that something’s bothering you?” Gloria says, matter-of-factly, she sighs when Glenn avoids eye contact with her, “is it Maggie?”

Glenn flinches a bit when Maggie’s name gets mentioned, letting Gloria know that she hit it right on the spot, he sighs heavily, “I really can’t hide anything from you…” he mutters to himself before looking at her, “you can’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you, okay? Promise me.”

Gloria’s eyes narrow as she sees how serious Glenn is then nods, “Promise.”

“So… last night, I was supposed to meet up with Maggie at the barn.” he starts, a slight blush creeping on his face, “For uh… things that couples do.” 

“I don’t need the details of your dates, Glenn, please spare me.” Gloria chuckles, she’s always found it amusing how easily he got flustered when it came to girls.

“Alright, well, yeah, we kinda had a date arranged, but we couldn’t exactly do anything because…” he takes a deep breath, “because there are walkers in the barn.” 

A small moment of silence passes between the siblings as an amused smile makes its way up to Gloria’s face, “So… you’re telling me that you got cockblocked by a barnful of walkers?” 

“T-that’s beyond the point, Gloria!” Glenn’s face is scarlet red now, much to Gloria’s amusement, “does the fact that we have a barn full of walkers as our neighbor not concern you, or are you just going to keep making fun of me?”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help it.” Gloria says, her expression then turns serious, “why don’t you tell Rick or Shane about it?”

“I already promised Maggie that I wouldn’t tell anyone… but then again, here I am telling you.” Glenn shrugs, “anyway, Maggie and her family, they think that the walkers are still people, sick people that can be cured.” 

“Well, they’ve clearly been on the farm for way too long if they still think that.” Gloria comments, “did you tell her about what Dr. Jenner said to us at the C.D.C. about a cure?”

Glenn shakes his head, “I was going to after we came back from our run to the pharmacy, but things happened and I don’t think she thinks the same way about them anymore.”

“What happened at the pharmacy?” Gloria asks, curiously.

“We were looking around the shelves and then Maggie got grabbed by a walker,” Glenn sighs as he remembers back to the close call, “she almost got bit.”

“I’m glad she’s okay… but why did you guys need to go to the pharmacy anyway? I thought you got enough supplies when you went on the last run?” she questions.

Glenn ponders for a bit, “Lori… asked for something specific… something that we wouldn’t have here.” Gloria gives him a look to continue, and Glenn sighs, “Lori’s pregnant and she wanted to get rid of the baby without telling Rick.”

“Oh Jesus.” Gloria can’t help her expression at the news, “no wonder you’re stressed. Is that why Maggie stormed away from you two when you got back?”

Glenn blinks at her, not knowing that she witnessed the scene but then nods, “yeah.”

“So, what are you gonna do about… everything?” Gloria asks, willing to give any suggestions if needed.

He sighs heavily, leaning down with his head in his hands, “I don’t know… I already asked Dale for advice on what to do and he said he’s going to talk to Hershel about the barn..”

“Honestly, I think it’s best that you tell everyone about the walkers, it’s only a matter of time before they break through the doors and kill everyone.” Gloria suggests, giving him a worried look.

“I know, but Maggie doesn’t want me to tell anyone, plus it isn’t even my call to-” Glenn gets cut off by Gloria.

“It isn’t her call to make either, if the barn collapses and people are killed, that’s gonna be on you for not warning everyone first. Would you be able to live with that?” she pushes.

Glenn shakes his head and sighs again, “no…”

“Look, I like Maggie. She seems like a really sweet girl, but you have to realize that just because someone is sweet and pretty, doesn’t mean that they know what they’re doing.” Gloria advises, “okay, well, unless it’s me.” she adds with a cheeky grin to try and lighten up Glenn’s mood.

He laughs at that, smiling finally, “I’ll tell the group tomorrow then, in the morning when everyone’s together eating breakfast.”

“I can’t let you do this on your own.” Gloria reaches out and pats his shoulder, “you know I’m here for you, right?”

Glenn smiles and nods, “Of course. I’ll wait until you’re outside then, I don’t want you sleeping outside when you still need rest.” 

Gloria groans playfully, “fine, I’ll stay in this warm house and comfy bed.” she jokingly complains, earning another laugh from her brother. 

—

The next morning, Gloria wakes up as the bright rays of the sun hit her face; she purposely slept with the curtains open so that the early morning sun would wake her. She yawns as she stretches, reaching for the crutches and mounts them as she gets off the bed. Carefully but surely, she makes her way outside. Once on the porch, Gloria pauses as she blinks at the steps going down. 

“Need help?” she looks up to see Daryl making his way over to her, smirking as he sees her conundrum. 

“Yeah.” She pouts as Daryl leans on the railing, “well, don’t just stand there, help me!” she pleads.

Chuckling, Daryl pushes himself off the railing and makes his way up the steps to meet her, taking her crutches and leans them on the side rail, then picks her up bridal style without warning. Naturally, Gloria wraps her arm around Daryl’s neck, he looks to her and they both blush as they realize how physically close they are. 

He clears his throat, “grab those.” he nods pointedly to the crutches, then carefully goes down the stairs with her in his arms once she has hold of the crutches. 

“You can just put me down by Glenn’s tent.” she tells him, pointing to the little stump where the others are. 

Daryl complies and slowly places her down on the ground once they get there, Gloria hops on her good foot with Daryl holding her arm so she can keep her balance before sitting on the stump. He silently goes over to the lawnchair by Carol’s tent and sits. Gloria looks over to Glenn who is standing beside her, overlooking everyone nervously. He spots Maggie who had just come out of the house, standing on the porch and gives a stern look to Glenn, shaking her head. He sighs and looks over to Dale who nods at him. Torn, Glenn looks to Gloria for support and she smiles reassuringly at him as she nods. 

Taking a deep breath, he finally decides to do what needs to be done, “Uh guys…?” he starts, catching everyone’s attention, “the barn is full of walkers.”

Everyone freezes at his words, looking at him in fear and shock. Glenn looks around at the group nervously, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, waiting for someone, anyone to speak.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!
> 
> I already have a large portion of this series posted on Tumblr and decided to post it here as well! I'll be posting a chapter every day until I'm caught up with what I have on Tumblr! Any comments are always appreciated!

The group had made their way over to the front of the barn where they could hear the undeniable groans of walkers emitting from within, confirming that what Glenn had just told them to be true. Lori’s hold on Carl tightens as she stands beside Carol, both women looking at the barn with a shared expression of fear and horror. Gloria, mounted on the crutches, stands with T-Dog, Andrea, Dale and Glenn, Daryl in front of her, making sure she stays behind him. Rick and Shane are right in front of the barn doors, inspecting it and discussing what they should do.

“I’ll talk to Hershel, we’ll figure this out, we will.” Rick says aloud for everyone to hear.

“No, we need to get off this farm, it’s too dangerous to stay here now,” Shane objects, visibly getting angrier and more frustrated by the second, “we should have left for Fort Benning a long time ago!”

Rick grabs onto Shane’s arm, “we can’t leave here, not yet.”

Shane scoffs and pushes Rick off him, “and why not?”

“Because Sophia’s still out there.” Carol cries out, taking a step towards the two men.

Shane lets out a breath, sighing, “Alright… you know what, I think we need to face the facts, face reality, okay? Chances are Sophia’s dead.” 

“Hey, I’m close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago!” Daryl exclaims in rage.

Shane scoffs at this, “You found her doll, Daryl. That’s what you did, you found **a doll**. Finding Gloria alive was a damn miracle, we ain’t gonna find Sophia, not after all this time! Not alive at least.” 

“Man, ya don’ know what the hell ya talkin’ ‘bout!” Daryl shouts.

“I’m just saying what needs to be said!” Shane shouts back.

Unable to hold her rage back any longer, Gloria starts to hobble up to Shane, “Shane, stop being such an asshole and just shut up!” 

He glares at her and walks up to her, “you look me in the eye and tell me you still believe Sophia’s actually alive.” he challenges her.

Not faltering one bit, Gloria says through gritted teeth, “would you be able to say that to Lori’s face if it were Carl who went missing?” something changes in Shane when he hears her question, he stays silent, making it obvious that his answer is a negative, “then why do you think it’s okay for you to say **any** of that shit around Carol?”

Shane stares down at the ground as he backs away from Gloria, ashamed, unable to look at anyone. 

“Alright, that’s enough.” Rick tries to diffuse the tension, “I’ll go talk to Hershel about this, I know we’re all worried about the barn, but it’s still Hershel’s property, and we have to respect that.”

Everyone, even Shane, nods in agreement. Gloria’s still glaring at Shane, her chest heaving in rage. She looks away when she feels a hand on her arm, seeing Carol smiling softly at her, silently thanking her for standing up for her. Gloria forces a smile back and nods, telling her that it’s going to be okay. The group parts ways from the barn, each to do their own things. Gloria hobbles her way over to Dale who’s at his RV.

“Hey Dale.” she calls him.

Dale smiles at her, “Hey Gloria, how’s it feel to walk with three legs?” 

“Never better!” she laughs, “so, you’re old… and you know things-” Dale’s laugh interrupts her.

“You and Glenn really are siblings, he said the exact same thing to me when he first told me about the barn.” Dale grins, amused.

Gloria chuckles at this, “yeah, he copies me a lot.” she says, adjusting her spot on her crutches.

“So what are you looking for this old wise man for?” he smiles.

“Well, just wanted to see what you thought about the whole situation, with the barn, with Sophia, us staying,” she purses her lips, furrowing her brows.

Dale sighs at this, “well, we’ll deal with the barn eventually one way or another, but whether it’s a good way is a whole other story. Personally, I’d like it if we could all stay here, and as for Sophia…” he pauses, “I honestly don’t know what to think.”

Gloria looks down and nods. She then looks over towards the chicken coop as she notices Glenn walking out from it, holding his hat with his hair coated in egg.

“Did you get attacked by a hen?” Gloria blinks, amused.

He looks at her, “Yeah… a pissed off hen. She’s mad that I told everyone about the barn.”

Dale grabs his hat from the RV and hands it to Glenn, “here, you can wear this for now.” 

“Thanks.” he says solemnly. 

“Hey, it’ll be okay. If you want, I can try talking some sense into Maggie for you.” Gloria hops, adjusting herself on her crutches again. 

Glenn shrugs, “I don’t even know if that would help anything, I broke a promise, remember?”

“You did, but it was for the greater good. Leave it to me, you know how convincing I can be.” Gloria smiles reassuringly.

Glenn smiles a bit, rolling his eyes at her confidence. From behind Glenn, Gloria spots Daryl storming out from the horse stables and Carol looking after him with a concerned look on her face. Gloria excuses herself and makes her way towards Carol, wanting to ensure that she was alright. 

“Daryl wants to go out and find Sophia but he’s still heavily injured.” Carol says once she spots Gloria, running to her. 

Gloria ponders, not knowing what’s the right thing to say, “w-we still need to find Sophia…”

“But I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.” Carol says, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. 

Gloria balances her body on her crutches then places a hand on Carol’s shoulder, “listen, no one else is going to get hurt, Daryl just got unlucky because of the horse he took and I was just careless, but that’s not going to happen to anyone else, okay?”

Carol wipes her tears that ended up falling then nods, “thank you… thank you.”

“I’ll take care of Daryl, you go over to Rick and Glenn and ask them to put together a search party, alright? We’ll find her.” Gloria says confidently.

Carol nods, a small smile on her lips, then she does as Gloria instructed and goes to find Glenn. Gloria makes her way to find Daryl at his tent that’s set up further away from the others, he’d always liked to be apart from the rest of the group. Daryl was packing up his arrows, his crossbow already slung on his back, getting ready to head out.

“Hey.” Gloria calls out as she stumbles to his area, “where’re you going?” she asks, playing dumb.

“Where do ya think?! Goin’ to find that lil’ girl!” he shouts at her, annoyed that she even had to ask such a question.

“You’re not going alone,” she stops right in front of him, “you’re still injured.” 

Daryl scowls at her, “are ya gonna try an’ stop me?”

Gloria shakes her head, “nope, I’m not exactly in any condition to stop you.” 

He looks at her and scoffs, then turns to leave without saying anything else. Gloria just turns in his direction and starts to follow him. Daryl turns around to look at her again when he hears that he’s being followed. 

“The hell ya think you’re doin’?” Daryl asks, frowning at her.

She doesn’t stop hobbling towards him, “I told you that you’re not going alone, I’m coming with you.”

“Nah, ya ain’. Go back to the house.” he orders, pointing in the direction of the house. 

Gloria finally makes it to him, “are you going to try and stop me?” 

Daryl sighs out of frustration, “we gotta find that lil’ girl!”

“I know that! Don’t think for a second that I don’t want to find her, but Carol… she was crying to me, she doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt, Daryl.” she sighs, ”We all know you’re a badass and probably the best tracker we have, but right now you aren’t at full potential because you’re hurt, and we can’t afford to lose you. We just can’t. I had Carol get Rick and Glenn to form a search party, we will find her, Daryl. We aren’t leaving the farm until we do. Walker barn or not.”

Daryl nods, not saying anything. Gloria moves a little closer to him, wanting to check his wounds to make sure they’re healing properly. Slowly, she moves her hand to his left temple where the bandage is, she notices that he flinches slightly. 

“May I?” she asks, her voice soft.

He looks at her hesitantly then nods again. She smiles softly at him, slowly and carefully pulling back the bandage, seeing that it’s healing fairly well. Gloria repatches the bandage on his temple then takes her attention to the wound on his torso. She looks at him, asking permission with her eyes. Daryl shifts awkwardly, lifting up his shirt only enough to reveal the stitched wound. She smiles when she sees that it’s also healing well. 

“You’re one hell of a man, Daryl.” Gloria comments, causing him to blush again. 

“Ya should head back.” Daryl says, making his way back to his tent. 

He enters his tent without saying anything else to her. Gloria chuckles at his behavior then slowly makes her way back to the rest of the group’s tents. When she gets there, she spots Maggie walking by herself. Thinking back to her conversation with Glenn, she decides to go and speak with her.

“Hey Maggie!” she calls out, hobbling her way towards the young woman, “can we talk?”

Maggie stopped in her tracks when she heard her name being called, “Sure…”

“I understand why you’re so pissed at Glenn,” Gloria starts when she’s in front of her, “you have a reason to be, but I hope you can understand that Glenn had his own reasons for what he did too. I know he broke a promise to you when he told the others about the barn, but he couldn’t risk their safety and keep it to himself. The first people those walkers will target if they ever got out would be my group sleeping out in their tents, not your family in the house protected by walls. And I don’t think any promise is worth the lives of my people.” 

As Maggie stays quiet, Gloria starts to worry that she offended her, “Look, I’m sorry if I’m being too blunt and I upset you more, but whatever you and your family thinks about these walkers still being people waiting on a cure, I can guarantee you that they cannot be saved.” 

“I know that!” Maggie snaps, “I’ve seen them first hand and I know how dangerous they can be! When I went on that run to the pharmacy with Glenn, one almost bit me and that’s when I realized it. That’s when I knew daddy was wrong about them.”

Gloria frowns, now confused, “Wait so… if you know how dangerous they are, why are you still so upset at Glenn for telling everyone?”

“I was mad at Glenn for breaking our promise, but that was the last thing on my mind. I care about Glenn, I think I might even love him.” Maggie blushes as she speaks, she sighs, “and because I care about him, I keep thinking back to when your group first got here, there was a walker in one of our wells and they lowered Glenn in to get the walker out.”

Gloria blinks in confusion at the story as it’s her first time hearing this, assuming that this was before Daryl had found her, “They… did what?” her voice coated with a protective rage.

“They used him as walker bait.” Maggie tells her simply, “and for some reason, Glenn was happy to do it for them! And when I… when I realized how dangerous they were, I just got so upset that Glenn was willing to throw away his life to protect people who don’t care about his safety.” 

Gloria sighs at this, “I know… that’s just how selfless Glenn is. Always putting others before himself, which is why we gotta protect him.” she smiles pointedly at Maggie.

Maggie smiles back at her words, “I meant it, when I said I care about Glenn.”

“I know, I can tell. And I know Glenn cares about you too. A lot. Which is why he had to tell everyone else.” she sees Maggie’s confused expression and continues, “he knew that Hershel wasn’t going to do anything about the barn, but Rick and Shane will. He had to make sure it was dealt with as soon as possible to protect everyone here, and that includes you and your family.”

“You’ve given me a lot to think about.” Maggie says, gently grabbing Gloria’s arm and squeezes softly, “thank you.”

“Anytime,“ she nods, “oh and if you can, please make up with Glenn? I’m never gonna hear the end of it until you do.”

This causes Maggie to laugh, “I’ll think about it.” then resumes walking on her path. 

Gloria chuckles and sighs, thinking that the talk went very well. She makes her way back to the tents and plops herself on the stump by Glenn’s tent. Taking a deep breath, she sighs in relief, today was a very productive day. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!
> 
> I already have a large portion of this series posted on Tumblr and decided to post it here as well! I'll be posting a chapter every day until I'm caught up with what I have on Tumblr! Any comments are always appreciated!

Gloria was lounging around near the tents after her chat with Maggie, and shortly after she saw Glenn and Maggie sitting together on the front porch of her house, smiling as they held hands. She smiled at the scene, happy for her brother. Andrea walks by and looks over to Gloria.

“Have you seen Rick?” she calls out to her.

Gloria shakes her head, “no, I haven’t. Is something wrong?”

“We were supposed to go out into the woods together an hour ago but I can’t find him.” she replies, a frown on her face.

“Yeah ya were!” Daryl says, coming up from behind Andrea, “God, is no one takin’ this seriously?! The hell?!”

Shane quickly walks up to the group from where the vehicles are parked with a large duffle bag slung over his shoulder. Gloria gets up from her spot as she watches him handing out guns to everyone in the group. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Maggie asks, a discerning look on her face as she gets up from the porch.

“What we should have done a long time ago,” Shane says as he hands a gun to T-Dog who reluctantly takes it, “fixin’ the problem.”

Glenn walks up to him, “Hershel said no guns on his property.” 

Shane looks at Glenn dead in the eyes, “he’s also the one keeping walkers in that barn. I think we all need to grow up and solve that problem ourselves.” he holds a gun out to Glenn, “now, are you going to just stand there, or are you going to protect your own?”

Glenn looks at the gun held out for him, then at Maggie who’s standing behind him, then glances to Gloria who’s making her way to them with her crutches. He sighs and takes the gun from Shane who nods approvingly once and continues on to distribute the guns. Lori, Carol, and Carl had made their way over to Shane as they saw what he was doing. 

“Shane, stop this. You can’t make this decision on your own!” Lori tried to convince him.

“I have to make this decision for everyone because no one else is making a damn decision!” Shane yells back at her. 

“This isn’t right.” Carol says, concern and worry in her voice. 

“Oh, shit…” T-Dog voices out, catching everyone’s attention.

Everyone follows T-Dog’s line of sight and are all astonished to see Rick, Hershel, and Jimmy, a boy who worked on the farm, coming out of the woods holding walkers on poles. Shane runs over to them as the three are making their way to the barn, Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog, and Andrea following closely behind him. 

“What the hell is this?!” Shane growls angrily, pointing at the walkers. 

“Shane, stay out of this! We got this under control!” Rick yells back, holding the walker in place.

Hershel looks around and frowns as he grips his own pole firmly, “why do your people have guns?”

Shane scoffs at this, “you’re asking why they have guns when you’re catching walkers and putting them in that damn barn?!” 

“Shane, let us handle this!” Rick yells through gritted teeth.

“No! You know what?!” Shane pulls out his handgun, “you think they’re still people? You think they can be saved?” he shoots the walker Hershel is holding three times in the chest, “can a living person take that, Hershel?! That thing took three bullets to the lungs, why’s it still coming, Hershel? **Why’s it still comin’?!** ” 

“Stop it, Shane! That’s enough!” Rick screams, desperate to get Shane to stop. 

“Yeah, that is enough.” Shane shoots the walker dead in the head, letting it fall limp to the ground. 

He starts to make his way to the barn, Rick seeing this he panics, knowing what his best friend is about to do. He starts yelling at Hershel to take his pole from him but Hershel is still in shock from witnessing Shane kill the walker. Lori, Carol, Carl, and Gloria had walked to the group at all the commotion, Carl crying in Lori’s arms. They watch as Shane starts to tear the locks from the barn. Glenn, T-Dog, Andrea, and Daryl line up in front of the barn, bearing their guns ready as Shane opens the doors to the barn. Shane backs up and joins the other four as they shoot at the walkers coming out of the barn. The others watch in horror as they all eventually pile up on the ground in front of the barn. A tense silence fills the air once the gunfire stops, Beth’s sobs can be heard as she cries in Patricia’s arms. A single snarl emits from the barn as the last walker steps out from it. Blood drains from Gloria’s face as she sees that it’s Sophia. 

“Sophia? Sophia!” Carol cries as she runs over to the barn, only to be caught by Daryl, stopping her from going any further, dropping to the ground in a sobbing mess. 

Silent tears stream down Gloria’s face as she feels her legs go limp. She drops down to the ground on her knees, sadness and guilt overcoming her. Everyone stares at Sophia in shock, not knowing what to do. Rick takes a breath and steps up, drawing his gun and regretfully shoots her in the head, killing her instantly. 

—

The air around the farm is gloomy, tense, and all around depressing. Gloria had hidden herself in Glenn’s tent, wallowing in guilt and sorrow. She’s not crying, she just lets the tears fall from her eyes, drenching her face. She hears the zipper to the tent opening but she doesn’t bother looking at who it was, though she already had a good idea. 

“Hey.” Glenn says softly as he sits down in the tent beside her, concern dripping from his voice. 

“Hey…” she lets out a barely audible whisper.

“You wanna talk to me?” he pushes but his voice is gentle.

Gloria still doesn’t look at him, just staring at a blank space in the tent, “how’s Maggie?”

“She’s… getting there.” Glenn responds.

“Did she know?” she pauses, “did she know that Sophia was in there?”

Glenn shakes his head, “I don’t think so. According to Hershel, Otis was the one who put all those walkers in the barn.” 

“Who’s Otis?” Gloria questions, the first time she’s heard the name.

“Maggie’s uncle. He’s the one who accidentally shot Carl when he was hunting a deer. You’ve never seen him because he died the night he went with Shane to get supplies for Carl’s surgery.” he explains.

“When did this happen?” she asks softly.

“The night after you and Sophia went missing in the woods.” Glenn informs her.

Fresh tears well up in Gloria’s eyes as she comes to the self-realization that if she had not fallen and knocked herself out, Sophia might not have gotten bit. A whole new level of guilt swallows her heart. 

“No… no stop it, I know that look Gloria. It wasn’t your fault. Sophia’s death is not on you.” Glenn says quickly once he saw the look on her face, he knew her all too well.

It started to feel stuffy, getting hard to breathe for Gloria, she needed to get out. Without saying anything, she rushes out of the tent. She wanted to run away from everyone, from everything. Glenn had followed her out of the tent and grabbed onto her arm before she could run. 

“Stop blaming yourself! It wasn’t your fault, Gloria.” Glenn raises his voice, even though he didn’t mean to; he hated it whenever she did this to herself.

“Yes it was!” she screams, new tears streaming down her face, “I was the last one to see Sophia alive, I was the one who was supposed to watch over her! If I wasn’t stupid and clumsy and careless… if I didn’t fall and knock myself out, I could have protected her! She should be alive right now if it weren’t for me!” she yells angrily, angry at herself for letting this happen.

At a loss for words, Glenn slides his hand down to hold Gloria’s, hoping it could prove as some kind of comfort. 

“Daryl got hurt because of me… and Carol… oh God, Carol lost Sophia because of me… how am I ever going to face them, Glenn?!” she cries. 

“They aren’t going to blame you for-” he gets cut off with Gloria yanking her hand away from his grip.

“How can they not?!” she shouts, unable to take it anymore, she turns away and storms off, Glenn watches her helplessly.

Gloria desperately walks away, ignoring the slight limp she has from the pain in her ankle. She could barely feel that pain, too distracted by the horrid stabbing pain in her heart. She finds herself a patch of bushes on the outskirts of the farm, letting herself sit there and wallow in her tears. She doesn’t even know how long she’d been sitting when she hears footsteps approaching. The person who finds her sits down beside her and takes her hand. Gloria glances to them and sees that it’s Carol. They sit together in silence for a while.

“I heard your conversation with Glenn.” Carol speaks up first, “it wasn’t your fault, Gloria.”

Gloria looks over to Carol and sighs, “Carol, stop, please… you’re the one who’s hurting the most, I should be comforting you, not the other way around.”

“I’m not trying to comfort you, I’m just telling you the truth that you need to know.” Carol smiles sadly, “I’ve never blamed you, and I will never blame you for what happened. In fact… I’m grateful that you did so much for my little girl.” 

Carol’s words throw Gloria over the edge as she’s now unable to control her emotions, she breaks down and cries, holding Carol in a tight embrace. 

“You’ve always been one of the strong ones in the group, so strong.” Carol says, pulling back and wiping the tears on Gloria’s face with her thumb, “Can you do something for me, Gloria? Can you stay strong for me? Can you do that?” 

Gloria smiles tearfully and nods, “of course, I’ll do that for you.” 

“Let’s get you back to camp, I’m sure Glenn’s worried about you.” Carol suggests, helping Gloria up.

The two slowly make their way back to the house where they see Rick and Glenn near one of their trucks, seemingly about to head out, Maggie standing by the porch watching them prepare. 

“Gloria, Carol, are you two okay?” Glenn calls out to them once he sees them.

Gloria nods, “yeah… been better, but we’re okay.” 

“Where are you two going?” Carol asks.

“We’re going to find Hershel, I think he went into town, reverting back to old drinking habits because of everything that happened.” Rick replies, a frown on his face. 

“Gloria,” Glenn goes up to her, “I want you to look after Beth.”

“Why, what happened to Beth?” Gloria asks, worried.

“She collapsed… I think from shock or something, her mother was in that barn too.” Glenn sighs. 

Gloria looks over to Carol, remembering the older woman’s plea, then nods, “okay, I’ll look after her, but I think she’s going to need Hershel more than me. If her collapsing really is from a psychological shock, she’s going to need her family to pull her out of it.” 

“Then we’ll bring Hershel back as soon as possible.” Rick calls out and nods to Glenn, signalling him to get into the car. 

Glenn nods back at him, then rushes to the passenger’s seat and gets into the car. Carol walks Gloria to the house and Maggie assists her up the porch, Gloria asks Carol to help get the crutches from the tents and she heads off right away. Maggie walks Gloria into the room Beth is in, the poor girl is lying on the bed, not moving, eyes open, a look of horror on her face. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!
> 
> I already have a large portion of this series posted on Tumblr and decided to post it here as well! I'll be posting a chapter every day until I'm caught up with what I have on Tumblr! Any comments are always appreciated!

Gloria stands by Beth’s bed, checking over the girl and sees that she isn’t responding even though her eyes are open. She takes the small flashlight from the night table and shines it in the girl’s eyes, but there is still no response. 

She sighs, “just like Glenn said, she’s in shock and I’m afraid it is psychological.”

“W-what do we do?” Maggie says, concern and worry written all over her face.

“Keep her fed, keep her hydrated, and don’t leave her alone. You or someone from your family should keep her company, keep talking to her even if she doesn’t respond. Since it’s stemming from her psyche, the best thing is to try and pull her out of her shock, she needs her family.” Gloria instructs.

“I’m worried about her fever. Is there anything we can do about that?” Maggie goes to sit on the chair on the other side of the bed, placing her hand on Beth’s forehead.

“We can’t give her medicine, we don’t know how her body is going to react to that when it’s in this state. Put a wet towel on her head, try to lower her temperature that way. I’ve seen this before, while I was interning at the hospital, and if her body reacts badly to the medication… we could lose her.” Gloria purses her lips together. 

Maggie lets out a heavy sigh, tears forming in her eyes, “thank you…”

“Let’s hope that Rick and Glenn bring Hershel back soon, not saying that you won’t be effective in helping to pull her back, but she just lost her mom, so she’ll need her dad.” Gloria looks at the sisters sympathetically. 

“Yeah…” Maggie whispers, a sad smile on her face as she keeps her eyes on Beth, stroking the young girl’s hair. 

“Remember to talk to her, bring back old memories or bring up things that make her happy, it might not show at first but those do help a lot.” Gloria says before leaving the room, wanting to let the sisters have some privacy.

Maggie had stayed by Beth’s side the whole day, Gloria had helped Patricia with dinner, urging Carol to take a rest when she tried to help. When the table is set and everyone is gathered around, Shane calls out to Lori and frowns when he gets no response. 

“Carl, where’s your mother?” he asks the boy.

Carl shrugs, “I don’t know, I haven’t seen her since this afternoon.” 

“She told me to look after Carl earlier, but I haven’t seen her since.” Andrea informs everyone. 

Shane frowns at this then storms out of the house, already assuming that Lori had gone off to find Rick herself. The others follow him out and Carol comes running back to the group and confirms the assumption. 

“Lori went to ask Daryl to go find them, but he refused, I think she went out on her own.” Carol says, breathlessly. 

Carl starts to whimper, worried now for both of his parents. Gloria goes up to him and holds him close, whispering words of comfort into his ear, ensuring him that they’re going to be okay. Shane hurriedly rushes off to look for Lori as Gloria ushers Carl to sit on the porch, letting him feel useful as she asked him to help her as she’s on crutches. Carol walks up to the porch and sighs, wiping her face with her fingers.

“Carol? Are you okay?” Gloria asks as she sees that she’s clearly upset. 

She sighs, “it’s Daryl… he’s doing everything to push everyone away… he even said that it’s my fault for losing Sophia.”

Gloria blinks, feeling anger rising in her, “Carol… can you look after Carl?” 

Carol looks at her and nods, Gloria gets up from the porch quickly and hobbles her way to Daryl’s tent that’s now further away from the others. 

“Daryl! Daryl!” she calls out when she isn’t far from his tent, but sighs furiously when he doesn’t respond, “Hey, asshole!” she shouts.

“What?!” Daryl bursts out of his tent, fuming. 

“What the hell did you say to Carol?!” she needed to hear it for herself. 

“I told her tha’ if she went out lookin’ for her lil’ girl instead o’ gettin’ into other people’s business, she might still be alive!” he shouts at her, hoping she’d leave him alone at that.

This only makes her even more angry, “Are you fucking kidding me, Daryl?! She just lost her daughter! She’s already going through so much shit without you being an asshole, how can you say that shit to her?!” 

“What she’s goin’ through ain’ my problem. This damn group’s problems ain’ mine neither!” Daryl says, glaring at her. 

She sighs, calming herself down, “why are you doing this, Daryl?” 

“What?” he questions.

“Pushing everyone away, withdrawing from the group when you’re already an important part of us!” Gloria says.

Daryl scoffs, “An important part? Nah, I’m only important when someone goes missin’. Otherwise, no one gives a shit ‘bout me!” 

“That’s not true,” she stumbles closer to him, “you know that’s not true, Daryl.”

“Then tell me why the hell the firs’ time Lori ever comes up to me is to ask me to look for Rick!” Daryl yells, frustrated and hurt.

“I know Lori can be selfish at times…” Gloria sighs as she admits her true feelings towards the woman, “but she’s worried about Rick… she’s worried sick about him and I’m pretty sure her pregnant hormones aren’t exactly helping the cause.”

Daryl looks at her, his eyes wide, “she’s pregnant?”

“Yeah… but don’t tell anyone, I’m not even supposed to know.” Gloria shrugs.

“Ya wanna know somethin’…” Daryl starts, “when Lori came to me, she called me selfish for not wantin’ to go look for Rick.” 

“Daryl, you’re not selfish.” she takes a step closer to him, “you’re not.”

“When Sophia came out o’ that barn, I hated it. It’s like everythin’ I went through for that lil’ girl was for nothin’.” he steps away and ruffles his hair with his hands in anger and frustration, “no matter what I did, how hard I tried, I’d never be able to find her because she was in that damn barn this whole time!”

Feeling her heart break at his words, Gloria drops her crutches and quickly limps her way to Daryl, wrapping her arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. He freezes at her sudden contact, and they stay like that for a while. 

“It wasn’t pointless,” Gloria starts, “It wasn’t for nothing. You did everything you could, you brought Carol hope and showed her, showed all of us that you care. That you’re with us, and we need you with us, Daryl.”

Daryl looks down at her arms, then places his hand on them, making her let him go as he turns around to face her, looking her in the eyes, “ya really mean that?”

She nods, a small smile on her face. His hand reaches up to caress her face with his knuckles, he then leans in and kisses her gently. 

Smiling into the kiss, Gloria pulls back a bit, “will you move your tent back to the camp?”

“I’ll think about it,” he says with a side smile before kissing her again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!
> 
> I already have a large portion of this series posted on Tumblr and decided to post it here as well! I'll be posting a chapter every day until I'm caught up with what I have on Tumblr! Any comments are always appreciated!

Gloria wakes up in Daryl’s tent, only to find it empty as she looks around. They had moved his tent back closer to the main camp the night before. Gloria puts on her jean jacket over her army green tank top then gets out of the tent, finding the crutches on a tree right by the tent. She hops over on her good leg to the tree and mounts the crutches. She sees Daryl over by Shane’s truck as he’s getting ready to go out and look for Glenn, Rick, and Hershel. The sound of a car zooming onto the property catches everyone’s attention. Hershel stepped out of the car first, relieving everyone that they were all back, safe.

“Patricia, get the shed ready for surgery.” Hershel calls out.

Gloria frowns at this, “surgery… that can’t be good.” she makes her way to the car, letting out a breath of relief when she sees Rick and Glenn come out seemingly unharmed.

Glenn looks over towards Gloria and nods to her, wordlessly telling her that he’s fine, she smiles and nods back. Maggie runs over to Glenn and hugs him tightly. 

“Who the hell is that?” T-Dog asks aloud, pointing to the blindfolded teenager in the backseat.

“His name is Randall.” Glenn answers simply, pushing Maggie gently off him. 

He makes his way over to help Rick carry the semi-conscious Randall into the shed where Hershel had already walked off to. Sitting around the dining table, they all discuss what to do about the newly found stranger. 

“He’s a threat, his friends shot at Rick and Glenn, we need to get rid of him.” Shane voices out his opinion.

Rick nods at this, “I agree, he is a threat. We’ll drive out with him blindfolded so he can’t find his way back here, leave him out there with supplies to get by for a bit.”

“No, what if his group finds him here before he heals up?” Shane argues, regardless of Rick agreeing with him at first.

“They’re not looking for him, they left him for dead.” Rick assures. 

“And you’re sure he won’t be able to find his way back to the farm?” Gloria asks, referring to the first plan Rick had explained.

“We brought him here blindfolded and we’ll do the same when we drop him out there. He won’t know where this place is.” Rick says confidently.

With Rick’s plan being the final decision, he and Shane wait for Hershel to finish with the surgery before consulting with him and to their surprise, he agrees to the idea. They take the now unconscious Randall and load him up in the trunk, making sure to tie him up and blindfold him beforehand. 

Hershel goes off to check on Beth, and Gloria follows him, “she had a fever before, but it’s gone down a fair bit. We made sure to keep her fed and hydrated until you came back.” she updates him.

Her words make Hershel look at her, “do you have any background in the medical field, young lady?”

“I studied in Health Sciences and interned for a few years at a hospital.” she shrugs.

A pleasantly shocked expression spreads on Hershel’s face, “well then, how come you didn’t bother to help me with the surgery?” he chuckles.

“I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries, especially with everything that happened in the last week.” Gloria explains.

Hershel nods, smiling softly at her, “I’m glad you’re this thoughtful, completely different from a certain individual in your group.”

Gloria chuckles, “Shane… he hasn’t always been this way, although I can’t say for sure since I only met him a few months ago.”

She glances over her shoulder as Maggie walks into the room, a serious and disapproving look on her face as she looks at her father. Sensing the tension, Gloria excuses herself and hobbles out of the room, giving the father-daughter some privacy. Gloria makes her way down the steps and to the main camp where she sees Glenn, looking rather distressed. 

“You look stressed,” she calls out, “what’s wrong?”

He sighs, “Maggie told me she loves me.”

Gloria blinks at this answer, confused, “shouldn’t you be happy about that?”

“Maybe if we were still living in a world where we aren’t always in danger or fighting for our lives.” Glenn says, shaking his head. 

“Sit down.” she sighs, then takes a seat beside him as well, “talk to me, bro, what happened?”

He takes a deep breath, “when I was with Rick and Hershel at that bar, we had a run in with Randall’s people, had a shootout and Rick and Hershel were depending on me to help them get out of there but… but I froze, I was scared.”

“Hey, it’s normal to be scared during a gunfight.” Gloria tries to comfort him.

“It’s not that simple.” he sighs again, “I wasn’t scared for myself, I was scared for Maggie. I was scared that if anything happened to me, she’d get hurt. I never have to worry about you like that because you’re the badass in the family, yeah sure you’ll hurt for a bit but you’ll get over it, but Maggie isn’t the same.”

Gloria looks to the ground, she ponders whether or not to tell him that it would kill her if anything happened to him, but decided against it since Glenn was relying on her to comfort him, “Then you go in guns blazing and make sure you make it back in one piece. Be extra careful, that’s all there is to it.”

Glenn rolls his eyes at that, “that’s a lot easier said than done.”

“Glenn,” she looks at him seriously, “do you love Maggie?”

He blushes slightly at the question then nods, “I do.”

“I think you should tell her.” Gloria smiles, happy for him.

Glenn shrugs, “I’ll think about it.”

“What is with you guys and saying you’ll think about it when you know you’re already gonna do it.” Gloria rolls her eyes and scoffs. 

“What?” Glenn raises an eyebrow, “who else are you referring to?”

“No one, just talking in general.” she says, leaning her arms on her knees. 

Later on in the day, Glenn had left Gloria at the tents to go keep Dale company with T-Dog on top of the RV. Maggie and Andrea were supposed to all be in the house looking after Beth who had woken up as she was emotionally unstable. Hershel was tending to his crops with Patricia. Gloria watches from the tents as Maggie comes out of the house and shortly after Andrea comes out of the house as well. She frowns at this as she wasn’t sure where Lori was and someone was supposed to keep an eye on Beth at all times. Grabbing her crutches, Gloria hobbles to the house and makes her way up the steps, struggling slightly but still making it. 

“Beth?” she calls out as she enters the house, making her way into the room she was supposed to be in. 

Gloria gets to Beth’s room and frowns when she sees that it’s empty, she hears footsteps from behind her, “where’s Beth?” Maggie asks once she also sees the room is empty.

“I don’t know, I saw you and Andrea leave the house so I just got here to check up on her.” Gloria explains. 

Maggie’s about to say something else when they both turn at the sound of glass shattering from the closed door of the bathroom. Panicked, Maggie runs to the door and starts trying to open it, banging on the door and calling out to Beth. 

“Beth? Beth, sweetie, open the door, please! I’m not mad, come out Bethie, I’m not mad.” Maggie desperately calls out for her sister.

The commotion causes Lori to come into the room, immediately realizing what’s going on; she whispers that she left her with Andrea. Lori frantically looks around and quickly grabs a crowbar leaning on the wall by the fireplace. Lori ushers the two others to move as she pries the door open, revealing a crying Beth as she holds onto her bloody wrist.

“I’m sorry.” Beth sobs out.

Maggie tears up and whimpers as she enters the bathroom, attempting to soothe her younger sister. Gloria turns to Lori and asks her to go get Hershel, she nods and heads out. Maggie, Gloria and Lori are outside on the porch as Hershel stitches up Beth’s wrist, Gloria and Lori trying to comfort Maggie. Andrea had made her way to the porch, rushing as she heard what happened. 

“Where the hell were you?” Maggie walks up to Andrea as soon as she sees her.

“I heard, is she alright?” Andrea asks, breathless.

“If you stayed with her, then she would be.” Maggie crosses her arms, “where were you?”

Ignoring her question, Andrea asks, “how bad is she?”

“Not that deep.” Lori tells her, as Gloria eyes the blonde. 

A smile grows on Andrea’s face, “she chose to live.” 

“Beth just tried to kill herself, my dad’s stitching up her wrist right now!” Maggie says, furious.

“She’ll live.” Andrea says arrogantly, and that was the last straw for Gloria.

She throws her crutches down the porch, startling Lori, and makes her way down the porch and grabs Andrea’s arm, pulling her away, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Annoyed now, Andrea yanks her arm out of Gloria’s grip, “I did nothing wrong! Beth made her choice and she chose to live!”

Gloria scoffs at this, “are you stupid?! Do you **actually** believe that you did the right thing by leaving her alone?!” 

“I do, I **am** right, because Beth now wants to live, she realized that she wants to live.” Andrea still adamant on her answer. 

“Do you have any idea how lucky you got with that?” Gloria says, glaring at Andrea, “What if she really did want to die? What if she **did** die? Or what if she wanted to take it back, realizing she wants to live only when it’s too damn late?! What if she cut too deep and Hershel wasn’t able to stitch her back up, did you ever think about that?! If Beth died today, her blood would be on your hands. Now you look me in the eye and tell me you can take responsibility for that.” 

Andrea looks down, ashamed and defeated, she cowers, giving her answer to Gloria’s last question as a silent no.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Gloria backs off, “stay away from Beth and Maggie.”

Embarrassed and ashamed, Andrea turns around and walks away from the house. Lori and Maggie had gone back into the house. Gloria picked up the crutches she had thrown out of anger and mounted them again, making her way to the tents, not wanting to swarm Beth since there were enough people in the house. 

—

Rick and Shane had returned from their trip to drop off Randall, however, they had brought him back to the farm as they had learned that he knew who Maggie was. This made him an even bigger danger to the group now because even blindfolded, he knew how to get back to the farm. He could potentially lead his old group to them, possibly for vengeance towards Rick as he had killed some of their people. Daryl was in the barn where they had imprisoned the teenager, interrogating him. The others were waiting for him to come out at the tents. Gloria was leaning on a tree, keeping her eye on the barn and once she saw Daryl coming out, she pushed herself off the tree, mounting her crutches. 

“Boy there’s got a gang, thirty men. They got heavy artillery and they ain’ lookin’ to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they’re gonna wish they were.” Daryl explains once he gets close enough to the group, his eyes glancing to Gloria as he says his last sentence. 

Rick nods at the information gained, “That’s it, he’s a confirmed threat and he has to go. I’ll do it, tonight.” 

Daryl escapes to his tent as Gloria heads over to Dale’s RV where she kept her first aid kit. She’d noticed that Daryl’s knuckles were bloody after interrogating Randall. She hobbles her way over to his tent and sits down beside him. He was fumbling with his crossbow when she got to him and he stops moving when she holds her hand out to him.

“Hand.” she says simply.

Daryl squints at her, “What, are ya treating me like yer dog now?” 

Gloria rolls her eyes at his reluctance then chuckles, she reaches over and gently grabs his hand, placing it in her lap as she opens the first aid kit. She starts to clean the wounds from dried blood and dirt, then patches them up with bandages. 

“I’d hate to see the other guy.” Gloria jokes as she finishes up with one hand, then moves on to the other. 

Daryl smirks as he watches her work, “hey… stay away from him, ya hear?”

“Honestly, I was thinking of going to see how he was doing after I was done patching you up.” Gloria tells him truthfully, her professionalism getting in the way.

“Nah, ya ain’ goin’. I don’ want ya near that piece o’ shit.” Daryl scowls. 

“I’ve dealt with worse, Daryl. When I worked at a hospital I’ve patched up gangsters in the ER, they were much more dangerous than this kid, I can handle him.” she says, placing the last of the bandage on his hand.

“Ya ain’ goin’ near that damn barn!” Daryl raises his voice, making her look up at him, “ya ain’ a nurse no more, ya don’ need to be a damn professional. Rick’s gon’ kill him tonight anyway so what’s the point of patchin’ him up?!” he tries to hide the hint of jealousy in his voice, Daryl’s blood boiled at the thought of Gloria patching up anyone else but him, Glenn being an exception. 

Gloria sighs and nods, “you’re right. I guess I just wanted to make myself feel more useful.”

“Ya are useful, even if ya don’ patch the kid up.” Daryl takes his hand back from Gloria once she’s done treating him, he wraps his arm around her shoulders and pulls her close to him, kissing her temple gently. Gloria smiles shyly, staying in his embrace as she wraps an arm around his waist.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!
> 
> I already have a large portion of this series posted on Tumblr and decided to post it here as well! I'll be posting a chapter every day until I'm caught up with what I have on Tumblr! Any comments are always appreciated!

Gloria was in Dale’s RV, putting back her first aid kit in the compartment. She limps back out as she left the crutches outside, deeming it a hassle to go into the RV with the crutches. She’s greeted by Dale who helps her down the steps of the RV, handing her the crutches which she mounts once she’s out, thanking him.

“I wanted to ask you about something.” Dale says, his expression serious.

“What’s up?” Gloria says, looking at him, returning a serious expression.

“What are your thoughts on the execution?” he asks, crossing his arms, ready to listen intently.

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s right, but regardless of what we think, it’s going to happen.” she sighs.

“Well shouldn’t you say something if you think it’s wrong? More people need to voice out their opinion if they don’t agree with it, I can’t be the only one! Staying silent is the same as agreeing with killing the poor kid!” Dale rants, throwing his arms in the air in frustration.

Gloria takes a breath, “Dale, what else can we do? If we let him out there, he might bring back his entire group and kill us all in our sleep. We keep him here, we’ll have one more mouth to feed and I don’t think the others are willing to spare any more of our resources, or we starve him which is an even crueler way of execution in my personal opinion. I hate to say it, but killing him is the only clean way to guarantee our safety from his group.”

Dale’s face falls, defeated, he nods as he understands Gloria’s point. He climbs into the RV, Gloria gives him an apologetic look then goes off herself. She hobbles around the farm in deep thought about the entire situation with Randall that she didn’t even realize she had walked to the side of the barn he was kept in. 

“Your mom out here too? You’re lucky, still got your family.” Gloria overhears Randall speaking to someone, she hobbles closer to the barn, “Hey, I-I don’t know what people have been saying about me, but I didn’t do nothing, I swear! Your dad was gonna let me go until his friend started fighting with him.”

She looks around the outside walls of the barn, searching for a hole or crack she can peek through to see who he’s speaking to, finally spotting one, she puts her eye to the crack and looks in, she gasps, “Carl…”

“It got pretty bad, I was kinda worried. My camp, we got lots of supplies, you help me, I’ll take you and your folks back to my people. We’ll take good care of you.” he continues.

Gloria frowns as she feels anger towards Randall, “asshole’s trying to manipulate Carl…” she’s about to go into the barn when she saw that Shane had barged into the barn, shouting at Carl to get out, then proceeds to interrogate Randall about what he said to Carl.

—

Back at the house, the meeting was taking place as the group discusses what to do about Randall. It’s evident that most of the group is on the side of execution as they have no other good alternatives to guarantee their safety.

“So, how do we do this? Do we take a vote?” Glenn questions.

“Apparently only me, Glenn, and Gloria are opposed to this.” Dale says, looking at the siblings, Glenn waivers hesitantly, “Glenn! They’ve got you scared!” 

Glenn stutters, “Wha- h-he isn’t one of us!” 

Gloria takes a breath, “I originally was opposed to it, but now… now I think it really is the right call.” 

Dale looks at her with wide eyes, enraged and disappointed, “What changed?!”

“Well…” Gloria looks around, everyone’s eyes on her and she hesitates, deciding not to tell them that Carl was in the barn, “I spoke with Randall.” 

Glenn turns to look at her immediately while Daryl pushes himself off the wall he was leaning on, “he tried to manipulate me, saying that if I helped him, he’d take me back to his people, that they’re good people and they’d treat me well. The complete opposite of what Daryl told us when he interrogated the kid. He’s up to no good, and I don’t trust him.”

“You went into the barn?!” Glenn shouts, upset that she would take that risk.

“I told ya to stay outta there!” Daryl joins in, fuming. 

Gloria rolls her eyes and groans, “I’ll deal with you two later! Right now, we have to deal with the piece of shit in the barn!”

“Why the hell were you even in the barn in the first place?” T-Dog asks, a frown on his face as he’s also worried about her safety.

She sighs, knowing she’s going to get into trouble with Daryl after she says this, “I was gonna patch up the kid, just in case… You know, we decide not to kill him, but after he started trying to manipulate me, I just left him.”

At that, Daryl storms out of the house, his vote was already clear. The rest of the group proceeds with their votes, and with Gloria’s new information, the results were all in favor of the execution. It was decided that Rick and Shane as well as Daryl would do it tonight in the barn. Gloria makes her way out of the house, wanting to find Daryl when Glenn stops her. 

“What the hell were you thinking, going into the barn without letting anyone know first? _Are you crazy?!_ ” Glenn scolds, the last part in Korean. 

Gloria sighs, “ _the kid wasn’t speaking with me, it was with the sheriff’s son_.” she responds in Korean, referring to Carl.

Glenn frowns, “ _then why didn’t you just say that you overheard their conversation?_ ” 

“ _Are you crazy?_ ” she rolls her eyes, “ _both his parents were in there, and if I told them that their son was in the barn alone with the kid, you really think they’d be calm? Also, I don’t want to be the reason he gets grounded forever_.” 

Finally, Glenn nods in understanding, then a thought dawns on him, “ _hey, I know I keep asking you this, but seriously, is there something going on between you and the archer? He looked pretty upset when you told us all you talked to the kid._ ”

Gloria sighs, “he’s probably just upset that I didn’t listen to him when he told me not to go into the barn, and now I’m gonna have to explain it to him.” she responds in English, “wish me luck.” 

She starts to make her way to find Daryl when Glenn calls out to her, “You still didn’t answer my question!”

“That’s a discussion for another day.” Gloria calls back without turning around. 

She makes her way to the stone structure where Daryl had first moved his tent when they had found Sophia. He was sitting on a rock, shaving pieces of wood with his knife to make more arrows. Gloria hobbles towards him, sighing when he purposely ignores her call. 

“Daryl, will you just listen to me, please?” she pleads, looking down at him.

“When the hell will ya listen to me, then?” he retorts, not even looking up at her.

“I did.” Gloria starts, “I did listen to you, I didn’t go into the barn and I didn’t talk to Randall.”

“Then why the hell d’ya say ya did?!” Daryl yells, facing her finally.

Gloria looks around and makes sure the others are far enough to not hear what she was about to tell Daryl, “because it was Carl. He snuck into the barn somehow, and Randall was trying to manipulate him, not me. I couldn’t tell Rick and Lori that, Lori’d most likely freak out and nothing would have gotten done.” 

Daryl purses his lips as he looks at her, “so ya’d rather freak out me an’ Glenn instead?”

“Hey, in my defense, Lori’s still pregnant and I doubt the news would sit well with her.” Gloria shrugs. 

Daryl nods and stays quiet. He goes back to making arrows, only looking up at Gloria when she starts chuckling, he raises an eyebrow at her. 

“Did you just indirectly admit that you care about me, Daryl Dixon?” she smiles at him.

Daryl scoffs at that then looks away, trying to hide his blush, “nah.”

Gloria takes a seat beside Daryl and nudges him, making him glance at her, “I think you care.”

“Ya think what ya want.” he tries to hide a smile growing on his lips.

She takes a stick from the ground, one that Daryl would use to make arrows and watches as Daryl shaves the wood. Taking out one of her own daggers, she tries to imitate his blade work. Daryl gives her some pointers and ends up teaching her how to make his arrows. 

—

The group is resting in their campsite as they wait for Rick, Shane, and Daryl to return from the barn after they execute Randall. Dale had walked off, unable to be around them as he strongly disagrees with the execution. Shortly after, Rick and Shane return to the tents with Carl, both of them seemingly very frustrated.

“He was watching, he was telling me to do it.” Rick tells Lori, shaking his head, “I couldn’t with him watching…”

She soothes her husband, holding him to her. Shane looks away from the two, sighing at the sight. Gloria looks over to Carl who’s sitting down near his family’s tent, making sure that he’s alright, she sees him pout. She sighs as she thinks that he’s probably pouting because he wanted to witness the execution first hand. She shakes her head at the thought, a child his age should never have to witness something like that. Gloria’s thoughts are interrupted as well as everyone else’s conversations as a blood curdling scream sounds throughout the night air. Everyone looks in the direction the scream had emitted from, seeing Daryl who had stayed in the barn with Randall dashing to the middle of the field. He sees a walker and tackles it down, immediately stabbing it in the head. He rushes over to the man it had attacked, Dale. 

“Help! Over here!” Daryl waves his arms towards the rest of the group, shouting loudly, “it’ll be okay, buddy.” he says down to Dale, comforting him as best he could given the circumstances.

Everyone rushes over, Gloria’s standing beside Glenn, she had left her crutches back by the tents due to the frantic situation, Glenn had helped her limp over. Gloria gasps at the scene, Dale had his abdomen ripped open, his intestines and guts spilling out as he laid there, groaning in pain and agony. Andrea kneels by his side, crying helplessly.

Glenn turns to Gloria, “y-you gotta do something…” he chokes out a sob.

“I… I can’t… we won’t be able to move him… h-he’s lost too much blood.” Gloria breathes out, her body shaking; even if she’s worked in a hospital, she’s never seen anything as gruesome as this. 

Hershel rushes over to the scene as Rick had been frantically yelling out for him, “oh my God…”

“Hershel, we gotta do something, anything!” Rick pleads, tears falling from his eyes.

“He’s passed saving… I’m sorry.” Hershel says regretfully, looking away. 

Dale reaches his hand out to Andrea as he continues to groan, unable to form words from all the pain, “He’s suffering… somebody do something!” she sobs out. 

Rick wipes his face with his hand and sniffles, taking out his gun and aims it straight at Dale’s head. He stares at Dale and struggles, regret written all over his face. Daryl takes the gun from Rick, nodding to him, telling him it’s fine, that he doesn’t have to do it. 

Daryl kneels down, putting the gun directly on Dale’s forehead and cocks the gun, “Sorry, brother.” with those final words, he pulls the trigger.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!
> 
> I already have a large portion of this series posted on Tumblr and decided to post it here as well! I'll be posting a chapter every day until I'm caught up with what I have on Tumblr! Any comments are always appreciated!

In the morning, the group had buried Dale’s body and gave him a proper funeral. Rick had given a speech, saying that the group must stick together in order to honor Dale as he had believed the group was broken. In order to properly honor him after death, they must un-break it. The group dispersed once the funeral was over. Gloria had limped to Dale’s RV, she climbed inside and sat down at the table. She sighed as she looked around, reminiscing the old man. 

“Hey.” Daryl calls to her as he climbs into the RV with her, “I saw yer crutches outside, ya ain’ usin’ ‘em no more?” 

Gloria looks up at him and forces a smile on her face, “I am… it’s just a hassle getting in here with those things.” 

“Ya should keep usin’ ‘em, keep ya off that foot.” Daryl says, leaning on the wall facing her, “ya okay?”

“I’m fine,” she sighs, “better off than Glenn, anyway. I haven’t seen him like this since our grandpa died.” 

Gloria looks up at Daryl who’s quiet, waiting for her to continue talking.

“You know, my grandpa would always tell these stories, these really elaborate stories of when he went on road trips. Some of them I thought he just made up, and I didn’t really care for them, but Glenn? Glenn loved them.” she chuckles softly at the memory, “he’d always look forward to the weekends and ask ‘when’s gramps coming over? When’s gramps coming over?!’ and every single time, he’d be telling him a story, even if it was one he’s heard a million times, and he’d always love it. They were really close.” 

She wipes a tear from her cheek as she continues, “so, when he passed away from a heart condition, Glenn was devastated… and I think… I think he saw a bit of our grandpa in Dale. He’ll pull through it… but it’ll take some time.”

“Ya know I asked ya ‘bout you, not Glenn.” Daryl says straight-forwardly.

Gloria chuckles bitterly, “I couldn’t get away with that, could I…” she sighs, “I feel like shit, Daryl…”

“For what?” Daryl questions her.

“I… I made Dale look like such an idiot in front of everyone. I should have just… just not have said anything and took his side, the damn execution was gonna happen anyway, I should’ve just kept my damn mouth shut.” she confesses, wiping away the tears that fell from her eyes. 

“Ya shouldn’ feel that way. Dale wouldn’ blame ya, even if ya did make him look like an idiot, he knows it’s for the safety of our group, not in spite o’ him.” Daryl reasons with her inner demons. 

When he sees that Gloria starts to cry, he pulls her up from her seat and into his arms. Daryl leans back on the wall, holding her and rocking her as she cries. She cries into his chest, her hand grabbing onto his shirt. They stay that way for a little while as Daryl lets Gloria let out her feelings, he rubs small circles on her back, comforting her. 

Once she finishes crying, she sniffles and looks up at Daryl, “how are you feeling?” 

He shrugs, “‘M fine.”

She snuggles into his chest, “I’m sorry you had to be the one to put him down… wish you didn’t have to…”

“Well I had to, can’t let Rick do everythin’ hard ‘round here.” Daryl says softly. 

—

Later that day, Hershel had offered the group room to stay inside the house. He told them that he should have let them move in a long time ago, regretful that Dale’s death was what had to remind him to do so. As they all begin to pack their things, Rick is discussing with Shane and Daryl his plan on how to deal with Randall. He’d decided that he and Daryl would do originally as planned before Dale had died, drive the teenager out and leave him there far from the farm. Gloria had gathered her things and was looking for a spot in the house to claim as her place to sleep. 

“You can move your things into my room.” she overhears Maggie talking to Glenn. 

Glenn hesitates, “I’m just… gonna put my stuff over there.” he gestures to a corner of the room and heads to said spot. 

Maggie’s face drops as she watches him go then Gloria goes up to her, “hey, don’t take that to heart, he’s just having a rough time because of Dale. He still cares a lot about you but he’s hurting right now, just give him some time and space, it’ll be okay.” she smiles reassuringly to her. 

Maggie smiles sadly and nods, “I know… thank you.” she looks at Gloria apologetically, “you know it should be me trying to comfort you, yet here you are comforting me over your brother.” 

Gloria chuckles at this, “well, things are rough for everyone, we should all be comforting each other, have each other’s backs.”

“Definitely.” Maggie smiles warmly. 

Gloria heads back outside to gather the rest of the group’s things, Maggie following her to help. They head over to the trucks, Gloria hands Maggie a box to carry then grabs another box herself and they start to make their way back to the house.

“Guys!” they stop in their tracks as they hear T-Dog calling out, “Randall’s missing!”

Maggie and Gloria look at each other, put the boxes on the ground then head over to T-Dog where Rick and Daryl had already dashed towards. Seeing that those two are still on the farm, Gloria’s worry grows as she knows it wasn’t them who had taken him away as planned. 

“What do you mean missing?” Rick says, concern all over his face.

“I was at the barn checking up on him and it looks like he slipped the cuffs, but the locks were still locked from the outside.” T-Dog explains.

“He jumped me!” Shane shouts, emerging from the woods, his face looking bloody, “he took my gun!”

“Everybody, back in the house now!” Rick shouts, ushering everyone back into the house. 

He takes Daryl, Glenn, and Shane out on a search to look for Randall. The rest of the group are huddled in the living room, waiting for the four to return. Hours pass and soon it is dark out, suddenly a gunshot rings out from outside, causing Lori to panic.

“Hey, hey, calm down, it’s okay, they probably found Randall and had to shoot him, I’m sure they’re fine.” Gloria says, ushering Lori to sit back down, a hand on her back to soothe her. 

Lori tries to calm her breath when the door opens and Glenn and Daryl step in. 

“Hey, everyone okay?” Glenn asks, looking mainly at Maggie and Gloria.

“Yeah, we’re okay.” Maggie responds. 

Daryl looks around, “Rick and Shane ain’ back yet?” and Lori shakes her head, “We heard a shot.”

“They might have found Randall.” Gloria assumes, crossing her arms. 

“Nah, we found him. He was a walker.” Daryl sighs, “checked his body for bites and found nothin’, died by a broken neck.”

“That… doesn’t make any sense.” Gloria voices out everyone’s thoughts.

Lori stands up and goes to Daryl, “can you please go out and find Rick and Shane so we can figure out what’s going on?”

Daryl nods, “you got it.” he starts to head out followed by Andrea and Glenn. 

The three of them are on the porch when they freeze as they see a herd of walkers all making their way to the house. Glenn is the first one to react, running back into the house and telling Hershel the situation, he follows him out along with the rest of the group. They all watch in horror as a large herd of walkers has the entire farm surrounded, heading straight for them. 

Lori rushes back into the house to get Carl but comes back out in a panic as she isn’t able to find him. Carol reassures that he has to be in the house somewhere and that they’ll find him. The two women along with Beth and Patricia follow them into the house to try to locate the boy. The others are watching the herd. 

“What do we do…” Gloria says, expressing everyone’s thoughts. 

“Maybe we can hide in the basement, wait them out?” Glenn suggests, looking about, panicked. 

Daryl shakes his head, “Nah, a herd that big’ll rip this house apart.” 

Maggie comes out of the house with a large duffle bag of guns, she hands one to Hershel who starts to load it up. She then hands one to Glenn and Andrea. 

“What are ya, insane? We won’t even be able to make a dent in ‘em!” Daryl says as he watches everyone get loaded up.

“You can all leave if you want to, but this is my farm, I’ll die here.” Hershel says confidently then heads off to fight off the herd.

Daryl sighs then looks around at the others, catching Gloria’s eyes, “what’s your plan?” she asks.

“We kill as many of ‘em as possible then lead the rest off the farm, it’s our only play.” Daryl instructs.

Gloria nods, looking around to make sure the others know the plan. She reaches down to the bag and grabs herself a handgun, loading it. She’s about to go off, not caring about using her crutches since she has bigger problems to worry about, when Daryl grabs her arm.

“Do ya even know how to use that?” he asks for the second time since they met, frowning.

“I’m about to learn.” she says then rushes off to the fight.

Jimmy, Andrea, Glenn, Maggie, T-Dog and Daryl went off to retrieve their vehicles, going with Daryl’s plan. Gloria had stayed closer to the house with Hershel as Carol and the other women were inside. She gets frustrated with herself as she attempts to shoot the walkers, only to miss her targets. She curses herself for not being able to take those lessons from Shane and Rick before. The sound from her shots only drew the walkers to her more. Gloria sighs, frustrated, and puts the gun away in her belt, knowing that she’s much better at hand to hand combat. Pulling out her dual daggers, she goes at it with the walkers, stabbing and killing each one that comes near her. A bright light catches her attention as she sees that the barn is now lit on fire, the walkers around her are distracted by the sight. She hears more gunfire, assuming that it’s Daryl and the others shooting from their vehicles. 

Lori, Carol, Beth, and Patricia are watching the fight from the inside of the house and figured that it was too dangerous to stay and they need to leave. The women run out of the house, Lori in the lead with Carol following closely behind. Beth and Patricia run out together but Patricia gets grabbed by a walker and screams as it takes a bite from her neck. Gloria dashes over at the sound of the scream towards Beth and stabs the walker that bit Patricia. 

“Lori! Take Beth!” Gloria yells out as she turns around to fight off the rest of the walkers who made their way to the sound as well. 

Lori grabs the young girl and they run. Gloria soon gets surrounded by walkers circling her. Quickly, she surveys the herd and finds the side with the least amount of walkers. Taking a risk, she rushes over to that side and kills each walker blocking her way, clearing her path and runs away from the pack into the woods. Once free from the walkers, she hides behind a tree and looks back at the now walker infested farm. Gloria sighs as she sees what she recognises as Maggie’s car driving away from the wreckage. 

“Glenn better be in that car too.” Gloria whispers to herself. 

She starts to walk away from the farm, deciding to head to the highway where the group had originally lost Sophia and her. It’s the only landmark she had that the others knew of that’s somewhat closeby. Gloria had been walking for hours and her sprained ankle started to become sore as she continued to walk. She sighs, it was healing so well too. After another while, she finally spots the road to the highway, smiling in relief to herself as she reaches it. Gloria starts limping up the road to find her group.

—

Rick, Carl, and Hershel watch as the vehicles speed down the highway and stop right next to them. Lori gets out of the car and runs over to Rick and Carl, holding them close. Beth runs out and tackles Hershel in a tight hug and are soon joined by Maggie who had gotten out of her car. Hershel looks around and asks about Patricia and Jimmy, and to his disappointment, they hadn’t made it out. Glenn slowly gets out of the car, he scans the area for Gloria. Tears well up in his eyes when he doesn’t see her and he hits the car in frustration, anger, and sadness. The others look to him in sympathy as they realize as well that Gloria isn’t with the group.

“She’s alive.” Daryl pipes up, causing Glenn to look at him, “we jus’ gotta wait for her to come back to us. Ya can’t just give up on her jus’ ‘cause she ain’ here! She’s tough, and ya know that!” he wasn’t even sure if he was trying to convince Glenn or himself. 

He huffs in frustration then heads back to his bike, muttering that he’s going to go back and find her but before he mounts his bike, a figure down the road catches his eye. Daryl bursts into a dash down the road when he sees that it’s Gloria. She breaks into a tired smile when she sees him and yelps when he wraps his arms around her. Emotions take over him as Daryl presses his lips on hers, kissing her hard, making both of them breathless when they pull apart. 

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Gloria says softly to him.

He nods and starts walking her back to the group but when he realizes that she’s still limping, he picks her up bridal style, “let’s get ya back to yer brother.”

Daryl puts her back down on her feet when they get back to the group where she limps over to Glenn. 

“Oh my god.” Glenn sighs in relief as he rushes over to Gloria, hugging her tightly, “when I didn’t see you I thought…” 

Gloria chuckles, “you aren’t getting rid of me that easily, older brother.” 

Rick smiles at the siblings reunion but then turns serious as he clears his throat, “we should get going, we don’t want to be here if another herd passes through.”

With that, the group decide to head off. Glenn ushers Gloria into Maggie’s car where she takes the back seat, jokingly threatening anyone who tries to stop her from sleeping. Through their journey, Rick’s car had run out of gas, causing the group to stop. They were now huddled together between some stone structures to the side of the road. Carol and Maggie were growing wary of Rick as he had revealed what Dr. Jenner had told him right before the C.D.C. blew up: you become a walker no matter how you die. The group was upset that Rick hadn’t told them that important information before and they only became even more afraid of him when he had revealed that he killed Shane. Rick was on top of the structures, keeping watch for the group.

Carol leaned in to Gloria who had her arm around her for warmth, “I don’t think I can trust Rick… after keeping that from us…” she says with a hushed voice. 

Gloria shakes her head, “I… I don’t know what to think.”

“I trust him.” Daryl, who’s sitting on the other side of Carol informs, “he hasn’t done anythin’ wrong by me.”

A sudden rustle in the woods startles everyone in the group. Carol stands up in panic, looking at Rick.

“Do something!” she calls out, clearly freaked out.

“I am doing something! I’m keeping this group safe! That’s the only thing I’ve been trying to do this entire time!” he snarls, “maybe, maybe you don’t need me, maybe you can all try your chances out there, alone, without me, but that isn’t happening. You’re all staying. This is not a democracy.”

The group stays silent, no one daring to oppose the now self-appointed leader. Rick continues on patrolling the structures, keeping watch. The entire group, including Rick, knows that they can’t survive without each other. They’re just going to have to live with how things are now, try to find a place to build up their group, possibly start something new for this terrifying world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That wraps up Season 2! Season 3 will be up tomorrow in another part of my Fated Series so stay tuned! ^^ 
> 
> Also, thank you so much to everyone who's been following this story and supporting it, it means so much to me! ❤❤❤


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